Family Lake Trip 2018

We were given the rare gift from the Navy powers that be and got to take an entire week of vacation this past week! We high tailed it to Dallas to spend time with Parker's family and visit their new lake house for the first time. We had so much fun!

Parker grew up going to the lake every year, similarly to how I grew up going to the beach every year. He has really special memories at the lake, and now we are both excited for Preston to get to make memories there. Pres is a typical boy and would live outside if we let him, so the lake life really suited him.

Here are a few highlights from the trip!

We spent a couple of days at Parker's parents house before heading to the lake, so morning walks together were a daily thing. I looked over, and Preston was holding his grandfather's hand. So sweet. 

Two of our good friends had their baby while we were in town, so we got to go see them! Their baby boy is just perfect and gave us all the newborn baby fever!

The next day, we took off for the lake! Our outdoor-loving boy loved every minute of it! He is walking to the boat with Lolli (Parker's mom) here. He hated that life jacket but safety first.

Jenny loves boats. Preston loves land. That's what I gathered after this sunset boat ride.

Three generations of Phelps boys!

I caption this picture "when the rest of the family wants to go into the water but your child prefers the land"... we had our own little private beach date.

Driving the car with Lolli and Pops!

Parker and I were excited to get away for a morning and bike around the lake. I hadn't biked in a while but used to bike around our city during my college summers. This was a 9 mile bike ride, so it sounded like no big deal, right? Wrong! It was about an hour of hills and kicked my little rear end. Parker thinks there was something wrong with my bike, but I am probably just a wuss. Either way, an hour of biking up hills was fun... but not something I will do next time we are there. ;)

Mid bike ride: hanging in there and enjoying the views.

Post ride: over. it.

We caught up to this little ham who was very much in his element and would swing all day if we let him.

After spending a few days at the lake, we headed back to Dallas to play and hang out with the extended family. We took Preston to a little indoor play place, and it was adorable. They don't have this stuff in the small town we live in, so we took full advantage while we were away!

Life size light brite! The 90s kid in me was smiling from ear to ear watching my kid play with this.

We ended the trip by staying the night with my grandparents before heading back to Kingsville. They are two of my favorite people, and Preston has really bonded with them too, so I just love our little visits. I could have stayed another week with them, but it was back to Kingsville we go!

Parker, Preston, Jenny, and I had a wonderful time catching up with family and experiencing the lake as a family! Until next time...

Padre Island 2017

This past week, we hopped on a plane and flew to the great state of Texas for our first vacation with our baby! We met my entire extended family in Padre Island, TX for a week of sun, sand, and more food than any of us care to admit. 

Growing up, I went to Padre Island every year with my Nana, cousins, aunt, uncle, mom, and sisters. Easily some of my fondest childhood memories came from these trips. We went every year, but it had been 4-5 years since we had been with all of us kids growing up, going to college, getting married, etc. We were adamant about starting the tradition back up now that babies are in the picture, and I am so glad we did. It really was the best week ever!

We laughed that we flew all the way to Texas for a beach vacation when we live in Virginia Beach and have a beach in our backyard, but family makes it all worth it! This was Preston's first flight and trip to the motherland, and he handled it like a champ. Here are some highlights from our trip!

There is nothing better than the sounds and smell of the ocean! We found time to enjoy it in between naps and feedings. #vacationingwithababy

I am convinced there is nothing better than discovering the world through your child's eyes. This motherhood gig is the best, and I am so grateful. 

Kissing cousins! We were so excited to have the babies back together! Next year, they are going to be nonstop!

Emmett was mildly interested in the other tiny human on the floor. Preston was only interested in things he could shove into his mouth.

My best bud. We are pretty obsessed with each other these days, and I love it!

Hey boys, smile! This is what they did the entire photoshoot... clearly the ocean was calling them a la Moana. My mom (aka Grammy) was in her element! She is seriously the baby whisperer and so, so good with these babies. Emmett is obsessed with her and at the age where he will only go to certain people, her being one of the few on that list. While Preston will still allow anyone to hold him, he cries for half the people that try, and my mom is one of the few that can calm him down every time. I just love seeing her be a Grammy! These boys are the luckiest.

Nana with her grandkids and great grandkids! She is the grand matriarch and one of my favorite people on the planet. Thanks to her for starting this tradition so many years ago!

Back in the airport ready for the flight home! Funny story... we showed up for our flight Sunday evening, and as we were pulling up to the airport, I looked up our flight number on my phone only to realize our flight was actually... Monday. Cue a minor panic attack from my husband and the biggest "oopsies-please-still-love-me" faces from me. There was nothing the airlines could do for us since it was so late in the day, so we got a bonus day with my family and flew out the next day. Other than Parker having to extend his leave and us having to shuffle a few things around, it ended up being just fine. An extra day with my mom, twin, and baby Emmett? Yes please! Shoutout to my husband for being very understanding through the whole ordeal. The takeaway here is one should never book flights at 6 AM when they are sleep deprived from caring for a newborn.

Finally on the plane and ready to go! I snapped this picture because Parker does this every. single. flight. I find it so endearing that he is the one person out there that reviews the safety information in the back of the seat. I mean, the guy's a pilot, so in the event of an emergency, I am sure he would know what to do better than most people on that plane regardless of if he reads the safety card or not. I still love that he reads it though!

That's Padre Island 2017! We are already so ready to go next year! A one year old Emmett and Preston running around the beach like banshees? Bring it on!

A Trip Around The World

I tried to be really careful about posting where Parker was or what he was doing on deployment. OPSEC and blogging aren't necessarily besties, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't divulging any information that could be considered confidential. 

Now that deployment is over, I can share some of the details I was holding back. I actually flew halfway around the world in late July to spend a week with Parker, and I want to share that experience before the details become hazy! By halfway around the world, I mean Bahrain. Never heard of Bahrain? I hadn't either! If you look on a map, it is right next to Saudi Arabia. 

A few fun facts about Bahrain...

1. It's hot. Really hot. The temps were usually about 110 degrees with a heat index of 140. I've never experienced heat like that in my life! It didn't help that I came in the heat of the summer. Their winters are usually in the 80s. 

2. The primary religion is Islam. You will see some people dressed head to toe in long robes/tunics and others dressed like us. 

3. If you are female, you will get stared at. Despite the scorching temps, I kept my legs covered the entire time with maxi dresses or jeans. I might as well have been in shorts, because if you are an American woman, you are going to get some stares. 

4. The local currency is the Bahrain Dinar, or BD. The conversion rate is 1 BD = $2.65. So, things are a little more expensive over there. 

I was 10 weeks pregnant when I made the trip, so while I wasn't feeling too hot, I happily sucked it up for the chance to see my husband. The flight was long and pretty brutal being sick, but the minute I saw Parker, it was all worth it!

I stayed with him in his hotel, and we had the best 6 days together! Here's what our trip looked like, according to our phones...

My trip over there was a great mix of relaxation and exploration. We explored the Souq, which is a huge market in an old part of the city where people try to peddle their wears. If you want to buy a suit or jewelry, it's a great place to go. Fun fact: Google Maps does not know how to navigate the Souq. I got us quite lost that night. 

Parker had to work for a few hours during each day, so I stayed back at the hotel and slept. I was 10 weeks pregnant, so the extra sleep was welcome! The downside to me sleeping several hours during the day was that I never fully adjusted to the time difference (they are 8 hours ahead of the east coast), so I would stay awake at night and sleep during the day. The only positive was adjusting back to Virginia time was a breeze. Parker usually came home from work and found me like this:

Thanks to all the rest I got during the day, I was ready to go for our afternoon and evening activities. Almost every day, our afternoon consisted of laying by the pool. What better way to beat the Bahrain heat? This was a highlight for us every day... we loved our time by the pool!

One of my favorite evenings was visiting Shawarma Alley. Shawarma is kind of like a middle eastern gyro. They have meat, some sort of lettuce or cabbage, and a white sauce that is almost a little sour all inside a pita. I probably prefer the traditional gyro, but the Shawarma was good and such a cool experience! It was one of the cheapest meals we had, though you do have to pay for water over there. There was also a sink randomly in the dining room. 

While walking down Shawarma Alley, we found a movie store that was selling movies for 1 BD (Bahrain Dinar, the local currency). They are most definitely illegally made, but we purchased Me Before You, which was still in some theaters back in America at the time. We watched it back at the hotel and really liked it!

Another favorite night was date night... aka Chilis and a movie! We saw Bourne on base and loved it! Chilis is one of our favorite restaurants, but it doesn't taste quite the same in Bahrain. We didn't love it as much. Actually, I had trouble eating it while still in the first trimester and actually haven't wanted it since. Still a great night though! Chilis and a movie made us feel like we were back home together. 

I wanted to cook for Parker one night since I had really missed doing so, but we didn't have much to work with in the way of ingredients or utensils, so taco night it was! It was fun just to eat dinner in and feel like a normal married couple. We bought the ingredients at the grocery store on base. I also bought some sausages that we intended to cook but ran out of time, so he put them in the freezer to be eaten later. When he left Bahrain in November, the sausages were still in the freezer. ;)

On the nights we ate in, we hit the pool after. It was such a relaxing place to talk and just hang out, and we were usually the only ones there. It felt like our own little private resort!

My six days in Bahrain came and went all too quickly, but we are both so thankful we got the opportunity to spend that time together. It helped break up the deployment and make it more bearable, and we got to create memories in the hotel where Parker stayed the majority of the deployment. He said knowing I had been there ended up being his favorite part of Bahrain and made him enjoy where he lived. We had planned for me to come out there again in October, but we both decided I was a little too pregnant for the trip and it was best for me to stay back. Since we cancelled the October trip, I am soooo grateful we took the opportunity in July to see each other. That time together was so special!

Cruise To The Bahamas: Days 3 & 4

I am back for my final recap of our wonderful cruise to The Bahamas! If you missed the first posts, I blogged about days 1 & 2 here and swimming with the dolphins here. 

I've already said this about 10 times, but this really was just the most wonderful vacation. Cruises make everything so easy and relaxing yet still make you feel like you went out and experienced new things. It's just the perfect way to travel!

I also joked to Parker that I only want to go on international trips from here on out because turning off our phones and unplugging was heavenly! We didn't check email, texts, Facebook, the news, etc. and it made for the best environment to just soak up the togetherness. 

Day 3 began in Nassau! We docked and were off the ship by 9:00 AM for our excursion. We were ready to swim with those dolphins! We had about a 30 minute boat ride out to the island and tried to stay in the shade as much as possible thanks to the sunburns we incurred the day before. 

Here we are with both our cruise ship and the Disney cruise ship behind us. The Disney cruise ship left with us and was part of every port as well. The two ships basically just followed each other!

Swimming with the dolphins was wonderful and lasted about an hour from start to finish. That's a great way to spend an hour!

After the swim, we grabbed some lunch. Bonus points for remembering our credit card this time! We were pleased to not have a repeat of day 2 where we forgot money and were hungry/thirsty all day.

After lunch, we had about 3 hours on a private island to just chill. Good with us! We laid by the pool for the majority of it and just talked/people watched/napped/loved life.

When we got back to the harbor, we decided to wander into the city just to walk around and get the full Nassau experience. After about 5 minutes and an encounter with a man being handcuffed and escorted into a van, we looked at each other and said "We're good. Time to go back to the boat.". We did buy a $5 oversized shell that looks great on my stairway landing table. ;)

Once we were safely back on the ship, we cleaned up and went to dinner. We skipped dessert in favor of watching the sunset and enjoyed the perfect evening. (I may or may not have visited the dessert buffet after to make up for it). 

The next day was our only full day at sea. The boat was transiting back to Florida, so we stayed on the ship all day. It was so relaxing that I didn't take a single picture during the day. We napped, laid in the sun, and watched the hairy chest competition and other antics happening on the lido deck. 

That night, we went to the Music Through The Decades show and a late night comedy show after. Both were entertaining!

We were up bright and early the next morning to debark the ship. We were so sad our wonderful cruise was over! The debarkation process was smooth and super quick, which was great! 

Coincidentally, my twin and her husband happened to be enjoying their babymoon at Disney World in Orlando, just an hour away from our cruise port. We had a few hours before we had to catch our flight, so we met them at Kona Grill for a little Disney-themed breakfast! To say we were jealous we weren't staying when we drove through the entrance is an understatement. 

We were so beyond excited to get to spend an hour with them! We talked about the baby (us) and Game of Thrones (them). Typical. 

I had to snap a picture of my meal because it was so good it should be illegal. It was called Tonga Toast, and I haven't the slightest idea what it was made of. I just know it was delicious and probably temporarily clogged about 5 arteries. 

We said goodbye to the expecting duo and headed to the airport to fly home. Seeing them was a gift, and we are really glad it worked out!

That's days 3 & 4 (and 5 if you count the Disney day!). The whole thing really was a dream- take us back please!